Sunday, October 11, 2009

Delivery

There are a lot of things that went extraordinarily well with the delivery of baby Thomas.
  • My water broke before the contractions were painful. In my book, this is good.
  • We were the only ones in labor in the hospital all night long. We had the undivided attention of....everybody.
  • Night Nurses were hilarious (one even had a cool accent) and a pleasure to be around. Somehow it's less annoying when they say "we're going to check you again" with a cool accent.
  • Dr. Man decided that we could wait until morning to start the Pitocin. "Get a good night's sleep. It might be your last." I heart Dr. Man.
  • When they gave me the epidural (at about 10am) it went in really easy. Nice Anesthesiologist told me she'd never seen anybody get in a more perfect position than I did. What can I say? I'm good at sitting.
  • The epidural set in quickly and was quite effective. Nice Anesthesiologist kept asking if I was sure I couldn't feel anything. "This is the lowest dose I can give, so if you start feeling anything just let me know and we'll give you more." "Wow. you're really sensitive to this." "You still think you're numb?"
  • Dr. Man walked through the doors about 10 seconds after they declared me "complete" (That sounds like a grade you get in school for a class that doesn't really matter...shouldn't they call it something cooler? I worked hard for that, way more work than showing up for badminton class.)
  • I rock at pushing. Nice Anesthesiologist and Dr. Man told me so. After 2 sets of 3 pushes Thomas' head was delivered.
Other things didn't go so well.
  • Thomas's heart rate dropped every time I turned on my left side or had a contraction.
  • The inability to be on my left side means I had no epidural on that side. I started to feel contractions on that side which actually made me appreciate the epidural more than I would have.
  • When they put me on my left side Thomas' heart rate dropped and 3 nurses and Nice Anesthesiologist stood staring at the monitor trying to figure out what to do. 
  • When Dr. Man came in announced that "this baby will be here within 5 minutes one way or the other." That was because of his heart rate. The nurses mentioned c-section if we couldn't push him out fast enough.
  • Episiotomy. In Josh's words. "Whoa. That's gonna hurt tomorrow."
  • When his head was delivered they confirmed that the cord was wrapped around his neck. Tight. Really tight. So tight that no blood was getting to him. Dr. Man could barely fit his finger under the cord so he could cut it. Fortunately Dr. Man is the best and handled it beautifully.
  • When Dr. Man delivered the rest of Thomas there was so much blood built up in the cord that it squirted all over the room. Everywhere. I have a Thomas-blood spot on my purse.
  • Thomas was freezing cold, his blood wasn't circulating, his heart rate still didn't get normal and he wasn't breathing, just panting. 30 minutes later he was still on oxygen.

    An hour later his limbs were still purple.


  • They only held him up in front of me for about 2 seconds before they took him off to the nursery to get all of that under control. Josh brought back pictures (above), and 2 hours later I finally got to meet my little guy.

Totally worth it.

21 comments:

  1. He is so cute! I mean really, really cute!

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  2. Awww :) He really is soo cute. That picture of him below where it looks like hes smiling.. priceless. Congratulations. Im glad delivery turned out well despite all the bumps! We love baby Thomas already (should I still be calling him baby Thomas now that he's born?)

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  3. Congratulations! I'm glad he's here, safe and sound and I'm glad you're doing well. He's a handsome one, that's for sure.
    And yes, I think labor is always worth it... totally agree.

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  4. Glad he's here and that things turned out so well. We like the pictures.

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  5. Glad he's safe and everything turned out ok. Love that little bundle of joy!

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  6. how sweet! I am glad everything turned out okay! You know most newborns look like lil rats when they are born, but this baby oh my he looks sooooo precious and cute! Straight outa a magazine!

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  7. Beautiful pictures (all of them) and I'm so glad that Dr. Man is amazing and helped Baby Thomas get here safely. Poor little guy.

    Also, when my water broke, I was already pushing and it sprayed the nurse right in the face and got everywhere. It was awesome. And not quite as icky as getting blood everywhere...

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  8. Amy, he is a beautiful baby. Congratulations! I hope you have a quick recovery too!

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  9. I just got back into town....HE IS SO ADORABLE!!! Congrats! So glad to hear that mom and baby are safe and sound!

    I'd love to come visit. I'll be in touch!

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  10. You two sure make a cute baby! Congrats. I'm happy to hear both of you are safe and sound. :)

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  11. Congrats! I need to bring you the onesies I stole from you.

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  12. GEEZ! See what happens when you leave your blog in the dust for a just a few weeks....Ami has a baby! I cannot believe you already have a baby! Congrats! Baby Thomas is so adorable. Hope you are feeling okay.

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  13. He is lovely. You did a great job. Congratulations!

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  14. You rocked at being calm and tough during labor. You rock at being a mommy and Thomas is lucky to come to your family and lucky to have such an adorable little body. Cute cute cute! I hope you're doing okay recovering from all this. Remember, it only gets better :D Love ya!

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  15. I heard you had Thomas (Tiffany keeps me updated Ü) but didn't know about the cord part. Holy moly that scared me just reading about it. I'm so glad he (and you) are ok. Congrats. We're so excited for you!!! Ü

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  16. Baby thomas is absolutely ADORABLE!!! That cord thing would be so scary. I am so glad he's ok, and you are both back home in your comfy beds. We have to make a trip to come see him when we get a chance (and when you guys are up for it).

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  17. Baby thomas is absolutely ADORABLE!!! That cord thing would be so scary. I am so glad he's ok, and you are both back home in your comfy beds. We have to make a trip to come see him when we get a chance (and when you guys are up for it).

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  18. He is perfect! Congratulations!

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  19. congratulations!!! i know i'm a few days late in saying so but i was on vacation. he looks adorable :D

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  20. CONGRATS! I haven't been looking at my blogs so I totally MISSED IT! I am so happy for all the things that went GOOD :) And he is super cute and worth it! :)

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  21. ADORABLE!!! Seriously. That is one cute baby!!!

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